Rapala Rockwood Resort

Rapala Rockwood Resort

IMproved budget digs

Towards the northern end of Railay East T: (075) 622 586

Rapala Rockwood Resort

Rapala showed noticeable improvements since our previous visit, sporting fresh coats of dark violet paint on the coconut-wood bungalows and hammocks strung to porches that used to have only cracked plastic chairs.

Inside, the mosquito nets were actually strung up and the rock-hard mattresses had been raised off the floors, putting you that much closer to the wall-mounted fans. The attached cold-water bathrooms are as simple as ever, with bucket-flush toilets. If you’re looking to save cash, settle into a cheaper room with nothing more than mattress on the floor and fan in a thin-walled longhouse. For these you’ll be using shared bathrooms in a cement building towards the centre of the property. The spacious roofed-deck restaurant with floor cushions is great for chatting up other travellers, and even the laughably small aboveground swimming pool (more like a kiddie pool really) had been outfitted with its own mini deck and a couple of loungers. The property is larger than it first appears -- ask for a bungalow towards the rear to be as far away as possible from the late-night techno that thumps from the nearby bars. Little kids and chickens hang around here, and the man who greeted us was a lot friendlier than the older woman who we met last time. When we asked if he’d have a room open for the next day, his response was: “I always have rooms.”